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Wouldn't it be a whole lot easier just to get a weather cube a radio shack which has automatic alerts and this way even if you do not have a TV or Radio on you can get the alerts?

See ya
Tony

For the life of me I will never understand why people will pay hundreds and thousands of dollars on a TV that provides the clearest, sharpest, most realistic picture possible and then, voluntarily, distort the image!

Wouldn't it be a whole lot easier just to get a weather cube a radio shack which has automatic alerts and this way even if you do not have a TV or Radio on you can get the alerts?

I don't think that is the question, though. I wish we had a varying-level emergency alert on all channels. One that could be enabled/disabled for various alerts, similiar to how Weather Bug has its customized alerts, but, for DirecTV.

When I was a kid, prior to FM radio popularity (this was a LONG time ago), all AM radios had two triangles marked on the radio dial---for the Conalrad EBS (spelling???). If an emergency alert occured, you were given a simple audio message to tune to either triangle.

This was during the Cold War era. Simple, but effective.

As crazy as the world is today, I think it would be a good idea for all broadcast services to have at least a very basic configurable alert system.

When I had Time Warner cable, an alert would come across the bottom of the screen that would tell you to go to a certain channel, or would just post the warning..

Since there are more sat's out there these days, and most major areas do have a local broadcast to the sat, what would it hurt...

problem with a weather radio, even though this is not me, what if you live in a 2 story house, bedroom upstairs, sat dish tv downstairs other side of house, use have surround sound, watching a movie and have it up pretty loud, the weather radio goes off, you don't hear it...

Don't all rcv'r pickup the local beam, you just don't see it unless you are subscribed, so it should't be too hard for it to receive that signal, you would think..

When I had Time Warner cable, an alert would come across the bottom of the screen that would tell you to go to a certain channel, or would just post the warning..

Since there are more sat's out there these days, and most major areas do have a local broadcast to the sat, what would it hurt...

problem with a weather radio, even though this is not me, what if you live in a 2 story house, bedroom upstairs, sat dish tv downstairs other side of house, use have surround sound, watching a movie and have it up pretty loud, the weather radio goes off, you don't hear it...

Don't all rcv'r pickup the local beam, you just don't see it unless you are subscribed, so it should't be too hard for it to receive that signal, you would think..

oh well, like i said before, just a thought

Cox does something similar. Unfortuantely it screws up the sound on all the channels for at least a minute when they run the test. The test always seemed to be just after midnight on saturday night when I was watching something. Boy does that take you out of the mood.

Some of the newer weather radios are configurable down to towns and zip codes. I have one that I have never heard go off but weather wise it is very boring around here. I believe they were talking about extending that system to homeland security stuff as well.

Some of the newer weather radios are configurable down to towns and zip codes. I have one that I have never heard go off but weather wise it is very boring around here. I believe they were talking about extending that system to homeland security stuff as well.

That would be SAME (Specific Area Message Encoding). Currently the system allows you to program a county code into your radio, so that only alerts for your county (or counties) are received. The system is capable of expanding to included sub-areas within a county, but I am not sure if any areas are doing this yet.

If you have never heard your radio go off, you may want to check it to see if it is operating correctly. The NOAA Weather Radio stations are required to test the alert system at least once a week. My local station test every Wednesday at 6:30 PM. Check with your local station to see when they test.

I know it isn't the question exactly, but I too say just get a SAME weather alert. A huge benefit is that it will work when the TV is off, and maybe more important when there is no electricity. Not sure adding to the cost of a satellite receiver is the answer.

I wonder how long it will be before the building code reqires a weather alert radio the same way it now requires interconnected smoke detectors.

See ya
Tony

For the life of me I will never understand why people will pay hundreds and thousands of dollars on a TV that provides the clearest, sharpest, most realistic picture possible and then, voluntarily, distort the image!

Just out of courisity, how hard would it be to take an EBS aleart off a local station and alert your box..

even if i don't get locals, could my box receive a local channel signal, I just wouldn't see it cause I don't subscribe, but, if an EBS went off, the box would see it and scroll it on the screen..

just courious, not a wish or complaint, just wondering if it is possiable or if it has ever been thought of, might be a good "saftey" marketing idea

I do know that RCA had some TVs with weather radio functions built-in. If an a;ert was sent out, it would put a crawl on the lower third of the screen and default to the local weather station. I saw a 20" model at a RadioShack, but you may stil be able to find them.

That being said, I have always wondered why someone hasn't proposed putting a weather radio in satellite receivers. You could install a small antenna on the dish and have 24/7 portection in case of weather or other related EAS alerts, even when all the TVS were off.

I wonder how long it will be before the building code reqires a weather alert radio the same way it now requires interconnected smoke detectors.

It really makes sense to incorporate a weather alert into smoke/CO detectors. A tornado is as much a threat to life and property as a fire. Many tornado deaths occur at night when people are sleeping.

Another alert option is that many television stations are now offering free weather alerts via telephone, email, and text messaging. I subscribe through our local CBS station. When an alert is issued for my county, I get a text message on my cell phone. It is county specific, just like SAME, so if a severe thunderstorm is occurring in a county 70 miles away, I don't get pinged.

When I was a kid, prior to FM radio popularity (this was a LONG time ago), all AM radios had two triangles marked on the radio dial---for the Conalrad EBS (spelling???). If an emergency alert occured, you were given a simple audio message to tune to either triangle.

This was during the Cold War era. Simple, but effective.

Ah yes, CONELRAD (CONtrol of ELectromagnetic RADiation) (1951). The stations were 640 KC & 1240 KC on the AM band. Supposedly when the Godless Russians attacked, all regular stations would go off the air and only emergency stations would broadcast on these frequencies.

I do know that RCA had some TVs with weather radio functions built-in. If an a;ert was sent out, it would put a crawl on the lower third of the screen and default to the local weather station. I saw a 20" model at a RadioShack, but you may stil be able to find them.

That being said, I have always wondered why someone hasn't proposed putting a weather radio in satellite receivers. You could install a small antenna on the dish and have 24/7 portection in case of weather or other related EAS alerts, even when all the TVS were off.

You know, with all the technological breakthroughs there are, I wonder what it would take for D* to team up with The Weather Channel and make a new generation of "Weather Star" that could be used with the satellite receivers that could show your true "Local on the 8's" and severe weather watches and warnings for my area, instead of the national view. I already have a SAME NOAA Weather Radio, and I'd never be caught without one, but the local radars are what I miss, and I'm not always near my computer to check the weather.

Just a wild dream, I guess. I'm sure the cost would be astronomical for most people, including myself.

You know, with all the technological breakthroughs there are, I wonder what it would take for D* to team up with The Weather Channel and make a new generation of "Weather Star" that could be used with the satellite receivers that could show your true "Local on the 8's" and severe weather watches and warnings for my area, instead of the national view. I already have a SAME NOAA Weather Radio, and I'd never be caught without one, but the local radars are what I miss, and I'm not always near my computer to check the weather.

Just a wild dream, I guess. I'm sure the cost would be astronomical for most people, including myself.

Please don't give anybody the bright idea of having your local weather alerts light up your screen regardless of which channel (local OR national) you are on!

It's bad enough that the network broadcasts on local TV are shrunk back into the corner so weather alerts that affect one county on the other side of the state can be peppered onto a good portion of the screen. No way I want broadcasts of programs on FX or TNT or such messed up with weather alerts, too. If I'm concerned about the weather, I'll tune into my local station. Even worse if it was a program I was watching on TiVo a week later and it was all messed up with the weather alert.

Please don't give anybody the bright idea of having your local weather alerts light up your screen regardless of which channel (local OR national) you are on!

It's bad enough that the network broadcasts on local TV are shrunk back into the corner so weather alerts that affect one county on the other side of the state can be peppered onto a good portion of the screen. No way I want broadcasts of programs on FX or TNT or such messed up with weather alerts, too. If I'm concerned about the weather, I'll tune into my local station. Even worse if it was a program I was watching on TiVo a week later and it was all messed up with the weather alert.

Maybe I'm a little out of the loop, because the small town I live in has TWC on cable (which they just added about two years ago), but they will not spend the money to get a "Weather Star" (they are an Independent Cable Company). My question is: Doesn't the Weather Star only show alerts on The Weather Channel? Or does it affect other channels as well? I've been a D* subscriber for a while now, so I really don't know.

No, WeatherStar is the device used to insert the local weather forecast breaks in the Weather Channel "Local on the 8s" spots. What you're thinking of is an EAS insertion system, which I believe is mandated by FCC regulation for all cable systems to have.

[quote name='John Duncan Yoyo']Cox does something similar. Unfortuantely it screws up the sound on all the channels for at least a minute when they run the test. The test always seemed to be just after midnight on saturday night when I was watching something. Boy does that take you out of the mood.

I had cox for a long time. And it did the same thing. It was annoying since I work/ed night shift and on my days off.